Another Day in Paradise

American has always loved road movies. This genre of film has certainly changed a lot
since the forties when a road movie was Bob Hope and Bing Crosby. Now, a road movie is
usually darker, more foreboding. This is certainly the case with Another Day in Paradise.
Instead of song and dance this movie chronicles sex, drugs, violence and crime. The story
opens up with Bobbie (Vincent Kartheiser ) a thief wannabe that rips off coin operated
machines in the basement of a junior college. He needs the money to support himself and
his girlfriend Rosie (Natasha Gregson Wagner) in their heroin habits. During the robbery
Bobbie manages to beat the night watchman to death. All of this violence was for a bag a
quarters. Soon Bobbie and Rosie met up with Uncle Mel (James Wood) and his girlfriend Sid
(Melanie Griffith). The four take off on the road to crime. Mel is a fast talking, very
slick criminal type. He is charming to everyone as long as there is money in his pocket
and dope in his veins. The foursome travel around smoking cigarettes by the cartoon,
getting high and always planning the next big job. Mel takes Bobbie under his wing making
him into a passable thief. While this is going on Sid and Roisie are bounding in a cross
between mother/daughter and best friends. Sid cant have children and she soon adopts
the ragged pair as if they where her own kids. Since Bobbie and Rosie never had much of a
home life themselves they fall easily into the roles. Of course, everything does not go
smoothly and soon they are deep in several situations they cant handle. The ending
is surprisingly well done and human even though youll probably see it coming.

The acting in this film carries it. The story is a bit predictable but this cast of
four incredibly talented people draws you into the film. What can be said about Woods and
Griffith) that has not already been said. They are perfect. Very few actors can play a
sleazy, dope fiend criminal and get you to actually care about him. Woods does this with
ease. He wears the role of Uncle Mel like an older, comfortable sweater. Woods plays Mel
as the criminal Yoda, dispensing his wisdom to an eager student. Griffith as
the ever smoking Sid shows a tender, tragic side to this character. The real danger here
is to play this role too much as the floozy, the dumb blonde. While Griffith portrays Sid
as a woman devoted to her man she is her own person, is capable of love and tries to show
others she cares. The tragedy is Sid is also a drug addict and criminal. They way the
character is played you have to wonder what went so wrong in this womans life that
this is how it turned out. Kartheiser has been liken to a young Brad Pitt in Kalifornia. I
can see the similarity especially since they are both the same type of film. While
Kartheiser does not have the charisma of Pitt he works hard at his role. Wagner is the
daughter of Robert Wagner and has inherited her fathers talent. Wagner shows unusual
depth in playing Rosie. Again sympathy is invoked in a character that you would not image
having any concern for what so ever.

Larry Clark must have had a very strange childhood. First he writes and directs Kids,
about a group of hedonistic teenagers in Manhattan. Now he takes his despair on the road
with Paradise. In this his second film he basically continues themes begun in Kids. The
extended family is one such theme. When the real family fails kids will search for another
family among their friends. While Kids showed the children turning to their peers,
Paradise shows the extreme influence an adult can have on young adults like Bobbie and
Rosie. Another is short term bless brings long term misery. In both movies Clark has
hedonistic central characters that may seem like they get away with a lot but they lose so
much inside they are barely human. Clark is learning about how to use a camera. While Kids
had a very effective documentary style, Paradise displayed better use of the
cinematography. His use of score is still progressing but there is a lot of promise here.
He paces the film with fast moving almost static cuts. Like the lives of the characters
the film give you an uneasy, jagged feel that pulls you along.

The disc is very well constructed. There is a fascinating commentary track by Clark, a
music video as well as the typical cast bios etc. The Dolby 5.1 audio makes typical use of
ambience and follows the action well. The video is 1.66:1 although some listings has this
as full screen. There are two versions on the disc. The first side is the unrated, longer
cut. Flip this over for the theatrical R release. Whether you are one of the
growing number of Clark fans out there or you just want a movie that displays great acting
this is one to watch.